It has been my passion for many years to shoot and edit footage. I’m a Director of Photography for multiple companies and I’ve shot plenty of Sports Highlight Reels, Music videos, Wedding videos, Documentaries, and Commercials. I’ve worked as a Director of Photography for names including Dick Yuengling, Ron Jaworsky of the Philadelphia Eagles, Hulk Hogan, and Eli Manning. I am currently shooting and editing a Documentary in relation to the NFL.

I’m known for shooting weddings and documentaries mostly but my favorite thing to shoot is sit down talking head interviews which I love to light. Alot of the time after setting up three point lighting, what I do differently from what other DP’s will do is I’ll have a light on a pigeon on the ground out of the shot somewhere illuminating the background so as to create even more separation between the subject and the background. Three major elements for separating the background from the foreground are your hair light, your background light, and most importantly of all using a prime lens to create as much bokeh as possible.

Crafting the perfect talking head interview look isn’t always as easy as it seems. There can be quite a few aspects involved that other Directors of Photography and Gaffers simply aren’t aware of. For instance I will usually create a side flag using a panel of Duvetyn rigged on a c stand arm to cut the ambient spill of my key light so that the light doesn’t spill onto the background and I can light the background separately. Flags and Scrims in general I’ve found are always overlooked in the world of Cinematography, if you want to really separate a subject from it’s background you have to be able to make the lighting look 3 dimensional, most DP’s make their lighting very flat in this regard and don’t make an effort to create a negative fill on their subjects face, even if it is just a subtle detail. Using a reflector as your fill light makes this look all the more cinematic, it creates a soft look. If you’re going to utilize diffusion for your lighting to create soft imagery, use it with purpose as opposed to just simply putting opal in front of all of your lights.

Directors of Photography in -United States